Terrebonne Genealogical Society
     
TGS Newsletter
 September 1997
     

Vol. 16 No. 7 September, 1997        Visit our home page at http://www.rootsweb.com/~laterreb/tgs.htm

Newsletter Editor Ed Hicks, 5306 Hwy.. 1, Raceland, LA 70394-2033
E-mail: edgarhicks@worldnet.att.net                 Phone: (504) 532-3586

Membership and/or address changes:
Please send by mail to TGS, Station 2 Box 295, Houma, LA 70360-0295


NEXT MEETING Saturday, Sept. 27, 1997

North Branch Library, Gray, LA 10:00 a.m.

WE NEED YOU!

The Fall Terrebonne Life Lines will be collated on Thursday, 25 September 1997, at the North Branch Library starting at 12:00 noon. Please be there if you can possibly make it. We need all the help we can get. The North Branch should be back in full swing by now, after a two-week forced vacation due to a main breaker going bad. You can’t buy those at Wal-Mart, folks. A new one had to be made at the factory. And you thought it was because of all those genealogy publications that they moved there from the Main Branch! Yes, those of you who travel from afar to come to the meetings will have a chance to use the fabulous Terrebonne Parish Genealogy Collection in the same building where the meetings will be held. You won’t have much time, though, unless you come early. The library closes at 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays.

At the Thursday, August 28th collating session, we learned about the electrical problems at the North Branch, so those of us who were there saved ourselves a wasted trip to the general meeting on Saturday, August 30th. I overheard someone at the Saturday meeting say they left their house on the East side of Houma, went to the North Branch Library, saw the notice on the door and had to turn around and come back to the East Branch for the meeting. It was funny to the rest of us, but not too funny for those who had to go the distance in the morning heat.

Wade Usé was there with an old hospital bill. The room cost $3.00 a day, surgical supplies $4.00, operating room $10.00, and anæthesia cost $10.00. The total bill for five days was $39.00! Can you believe it? Anyone want to try to figure the inflation rate?

Betty DeYeide-Lockwood brought the cypress hands from the clock in the steeple of the old courthouse. They are now over 105 years old. She also had two books of issues of the weekly paper put out by the servicemen on the old blimp base. She would love to have them copied [microfilmed? -ed.] for use by genealogists, because they are too fragile to be used in their present condition.

Godfrey Olivier showed us a tiny personal vaporizer used in the nineteenth century. The first registration date was in 1884 in France.. It looked like a tiny kerosene lamp with a two-inch chimney. Its base was about four inches in diameter. The little pan of water couldn’t have held more than two tablespoons of water.

We talked about projects in the works at the present time. If you would like to help on the Terrebonne Vital Records, contact Jess Bergeron at the Society address (above). If you would like to help on a census, the 1880 census projects for both Terrebonne and Lafourche need help. Contact Phil Chauvin or Nancy Wright. Audrey Westerman is working on the Lafourche 1870 census that Ken Toups had started. Don’t be bashful. If you have never done any of that kind of work before, admit it and volunteer anyway. We were all there at one time, but we volunteered, and got involved.

GOOD NEWS

Ed and Emelie Quin write from Houston that their son, Edward, IV, underwent a kidney transplant in April and is doing so well that he is able to work (part time) at his old job at NASA. They ask for our continued prayers, though, because of the nature of transplants.

DEATHS

Dr. Verne A. Pitre will be missed by those who read his columns or books, by those who knew him from classes at Nicholls State University and by members of TGS who attended meetings with him. He was always willing to lend a hand. He died Sunday, 31 August 1997, after a 10-year bout with lymphoma. He is survived by his wife, Ouida Boyette Pitre, one son, two daughters, one brother and six grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, I. J. and Blanche Gaspard Pitre.

My sister, Mary Elizabeth (Bette) Hicks Osborn, gave up her battle against cancer. She died on Friday, 12 Sept. 1997, in Titusville, FL. She is also survived by a daughter and two grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, John William Osborn, and her parents, Edgar Lawrence and Ethyl Smith Hicks.

Dorothy Grace Terrell, member from 1984 to 1996, died Friday, 15 August 1997, of cancer. She was the former owner of Harvey Equipment Co. And worked at Phil’s Restaurant in Harvey for 25 years. Survivors include her husband, Vernon Terrell, a daughter, two stepsons, two sisters and a brother.

Member Troy W Thompson, Jr., lost his mother on Monday, 25 August 1997, in Houma. Mildred Carter Thompson, 92, is survived by another son, Robert M. Thompson, one sister and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, Mason and Mary Bush Carter, three brothers, two sisters, and one granddaughter.

Bruce Leon Samanie, Sr., of Houma, died Thursday, 11 Sept. 1997. He is survived by his wife, Joyce LeBlanc Samanie, three sons, three daughters, one brother, three sisters, 10 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents,Andrew and Annie Elfert Samanie, three brothers and two sisters, one of whom was Elizabeth Hebert, of fond remembrance by TGS members. Mr. Samanie was the brother-in-law of charter member Larue Smith LeBlanc.

COLLATING CREW

A new record has been set by the crew named below. One hour and 10 minutes, folks, yes just 70 minutes to put together all the copies for all 478 members, plus some for later sales. I know it’s hard to believe, but it is true, and the following persons can attest to it: Jess Bergeron, Pat Blanchard, Marcie Cavalier, Essie Cavalier, Jane Chauvin, Phil Chauvin, Aimée Grillet, Eddie Henry, Gloria Hicks, Ed Hicks, Godfrey Olivier, Lou Ostheimer, Cecilia Richard, and Dot Smith.

SEMINARS

The Afro-American Genealogical and Historical Society of Chicago invites you to explore our past at its 15th Annual Conference. AFTER SLAVERY, WHAT? ... ROOTS IN RECONSTRUCTION will be held Saturday, 11 October 1997, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Olive-Harvey College, 10001 S. Woodlawn Ave., Chicago, IL. Prepaid registration is $20.00 for members, $15.00 for non-members accompanied by a member. On site registration is $25.00. For more information, call (312) 987-2112.

John Philip Colletta, Ph.D., will be the featured speaker at the Fall Seminar hosted by the Houston Genealogical Forum on Saturday, 25 October 1997, at the Scottish Rite Temple, 2900 N. Braeswood, Houston, TX. Several choices of registration possibilities are offered, so if you are interested, please contact HGF, P.O. Box 271466, Houston, TX 77277-1466 before 5 October 1997 for the best rates. They give a "GeneaLine" phone number: (713) 827-4440.

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